Wanxi Bookstore.

In the backyard, in the Beautiful Female Bookstore Owner’s private rest room.

Ming Yue lay lazily on the small bed in the rest room, her phone playing a live audio feed from Liu Jia’s room.

There were only two listeners.

Ming Yue, lying on the bed.

And the Beautiful Female Bookstore Owner, brewing tea for Ming Yue by the bedside.

The live broadcast was crystal clear and utterly explosive—every single word, even every sigh, could be heard perfectly by the two people in the room.

Hearing those words, each one aimed directly at her, detailing so-called conspiracies hatched against her, Ming Yue showed not the slightest reaction. Instead, she let out a low, mocking chuckle: “Tsk, tsk, tsk… Our little Jiajia has completely lost it! She can’t take it anymore and is about to make a move against me! Oh dear, oh dear—I’m so scared!”

But the Beautiful Female Bookstore Owner broke into a cold sweat, staring at Ming Yue’s little face. “Ming Yue, don’t take this lightly. Be extremely careful whenever you go out these days—especially…”

“Especially what?” Ming Yue turned off the phone’s audio, casually tossed it onto the blanket beside her, rolled over onto her side, and reached out to take the teacup her friend handed her. “Sister Lin Xi, why did you stop there? What, are you afraid I’ll be driven to death by your little heart?”

Lin Xi, whose pen name is Xishui Dongliu.

She’s not only the owner of Wanxi Bookstore; she’s also a golden phoenix who rose from the muddy roads of the countryside, as well as a moderately successful online novelist with several blockbuster titles under her belt. You could say she achieved financial freedom long ago.

But Ming Yue didn’t dig up this information herself.

Nor was it public knowledge.

It was something she’d known ever since she left this city many years ago.

Of course, that wasn’t all there was to it—there was also Wanxi Bookstore.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xi neither explained nor argued; she simply shook her head gently. “No need to deliberately provoke me with words like that, and don’t think you can get rid of me either. I have my own reasons for how I act. Your tactics of provocation won’t work on me, and neither will your threats or bribes.”

Ming Yue was momentarily taken aback, then slowly came to her senses.

She let out a long sigh, sat up, and stared intently at this old acquaintance she hadn’t seen in years, her voice filled with sorrow as it slipped out uncontrollably: “Sister Lin, after all these years, you still can’t accept reality, can you?”

“Ming Yue!”

Lin Xi’s expression grew grave as she silently fixed her gaze on Ming Yue’s little face. Tears streamed down from her eyes, her voice began to tremble, and her whole body shook.

Ming Yue set her teacup down on the table and grabbed Lin Xi’s trembling hand. “Sister Lin, I’ve already moved on. But you—you still haven’t fully moved on. In fact, you don’t even dare mention my brother’s name, do you?”

She raised her eyes and scanned the room, which wasn’t very spacious but was filled with quite a few old items, many of them connected to her brother.

Gifts he’d given her, his works, the books he’d read, the paintings he loved…

Ming Yue wasn’t stupid; she’d understood all this when she was just a little girl, and now, at her age, she understood it even more clearly.

Lin Xi refused to admit it. She lifted her other hand and wiped away the tears that kept streaming down her cheeks. “That’s not true! Why would I be afraid?”

At this moment, in this private and hard-to-find space where only the two of them were present, she no longer pretended—and she certainly stopped pretending she didn’t know Ming Yue.

Ming Yue’s eyes were also slightly moist as she looked at Lin Xi’s face and pressed her: “If you really are brave enough, why didn’t you keep going just now? You clearly heard that those two surnamed Liu want to find someone to impersonate my brother and lure me into a trap, didn’t you?”

End of Chapter 83: Counterattack 9